Nigerians can now register for NIMC with telecom operators

Following the stampede witnessed at the registration centres of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) across the country earlier this week, telecom operators in the country can now do their NIMC enrolment with Mobile network operators (MNOs).

According to the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), telecom operators have now obtained licences for Nigerians to do the enrollment and verification exercise to make it more convenient for their subscribers.

Acting under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the group said it will continue to work with the Federal Government to ensure the success of the directive to deactivate subscriber identity modules (SIMs) not linked with their owners National Identity Number (NIN).

NIMC on Wednesday dismissed as fake news that its database had been breached by hackers. Its spokesman, Kayode Adegoke, said: “NIMC would like to assure the public that there have been no such breaches or incidents. Investigations on the alleged data dump were found to be non-existent in the National Identity Database.

“The Commission investigated the data breach claim and found out that the database schema presented by the adversary does not tally with the existing schema of NIMC records. The data being posted by criminals purporting to contain citizens’ information is fake.

“The NIMC guarantees the security of the National Identity Database through various layers of security and can assure that no data was breached. The members of the general public are, therefore, enjoined to refrain from spreading false reports on the purported data breach.”

Communications and Digital Economy Minister, Dr. Ibrahim Pantami had directed the MNOs to deactivate SIMs not linked with NINs and threatened hefty sanctions to non-compliant operators including withdrawal of operating licence.